Thursday, 12 November 2009

gigsplurge 6: mogwai etc, april 2000

Arab Strap typical festival band, rolled out all the hits; sales of The Weekend Never Starts Round Here saw a spike the following week.

Bardo Pond failed to live up to a rather high billing as stoner post-rock legends, were but reasonably spooky and diverting; side projects, I gather, include Harsh Jar Tempo and Prairie Dog Flesh.

Delgados sat down so nobody could see them and played cellos really quietly.

Fly Pan Am were the guitary chaps out of Godspeed; they started loud and got louder until they finished. I'm dead keen on Fly Pan Am.

For Carnation started quietly and got quieter. Various other ex-members of Slint also played, sparking rumours there would be a reunion--which did eventually happen at ATP in 2005. At the time this was simply curious, though not quite curious enough. I spotted John Peel looking fed up: God bless the dead.

Gorkys Zygotic Mynci had tunes, which would have made them more than welcome on any ATP line-up. They ought to reform, and maybe play ATP.

Godspeed You Black Emperor had been on the cover of NME the previous year. At the time, the magazine frequently reviewed post-rock albums with descriptions like "sounds not unlike the Sonora Pine". I'm guessing a lot of 'paymasters' breathed a sigh of relief when Conor McNicholas turned up. Godspeed were staggering: preceded by two of their side-projects, marching to the stage through the crowd, blowing out speakers. What on earth happened to them?

Hood played, as did Pram; one or both played frosty British post-rock, not too far removed from the third Portishead album. But which?

Labradford were a sign of things to come for ATP, by which I mean, the sound of whirring fridges.

Ligament were a slightly dreary hardcore band, kind of like Sparta but without the massive air of disappointment.

Molasses were the strings bit of Godspeed, as opposed to the guitars bit. Pretty much the parts of the sum, which is no faint praise.

Papa M popped up with various bands across the weekend; his own set consisted of a 20-minute version of 'Turn, Turn, Turn'. On a scale of one to 'Slint reunion', this ranked pretty low.

Pram played, as did Hood; one or both played frosty British post-rock, not too far removed from the third Portishead album. But which?

Radar Brothers had the tunes; sleepy, sleepy tunes, but tunes they were.

Scott 4 are much missed.

Shellac went on to curate their own ATP, and to play most days of most festivals, until they were politely shuffled off to make room for Bon Iver. Taut, horrifying and, pleasingly, extremely witty, they were the perfect bar band for beardos with, you know, souls full of agony and rage.

Sigur Ros soooop soooop sweeeep sweeep; this was a bit feeble, really--though harmless. I never quite got why they won; possibly by singing about elves, rather than the New World Order.

Snow Patrol were a likeable, slightly shit indie band before they started writing Lou Barlow songs with X-Factor choruses for car companies. This was a likeable, slightly shit performance.

tracks posted here are for sampling purposes only and will be deleted in a few days. if you are, or represent the band, and desire the deletion of a track, please contact GMS and it will be done. support bands - buy their music, go to their shows.